Art of the Hustle: Goals, Branding, Distribution Strategy

Wondering how to take your music career to the next level? Are you following these important guidelines? This is Art of the Hustle – questions to ask yourself and strategies that will take you farther.

Know where you stand and set goals that are relevant to where you are at.

Prioritize based on your needs and goals. For example: don’t go looking for a manager when you don’t have something to manage. You’ll know when you need a manager because day to day tasks will become too overwhelming for you to handle on your own. Not to mention, taking the necessary steps for yourself by yourself proves that your worth of putting time, energy and even money into managing.

Be patient and use strategies that are in alignment with your stage of progression. If you have a large fan base, then what are your next steps? Getting more press? Getting booked as an opener for a well-known artist? Going on tour? Merch? If you don’t have a large following, then your first step is to figure out how to increase your fanbase. More to come on that in next weeks Art of the Hustle.

Make sure your branding is on point.

Get a website, even if you don’t have the loot to throw down on a WordPress or Squarespace site. There’s plenty of inexpensive options out there. One I recommend is Weebly. Your website should have professional photos, a biography, your music, upcoming shows, social media info, a mailing list and a blog. Too many artists out there only have fan pages which does not scream “professional running the game.” In addition to that, when people come across your website or any social media profile you have, they should instantly recognize it. This brand recognition is achieved by having promotional graphics that appear on all of your platforms including your profile photos, Facebook covers, Twitter headers, etc.

Don’t distribute new music without a distribution strategy…

even if that means you have to push back your release date. Here are a few ideas for you: prepare a launch timeline, release a single or a teaser video, coordinate with bloggers or share the creative process with your fans in the form of updates, photos, videos or asking for feedback. You could even create a Call-To-Action by asking your fans to vote on cover artwork. Throughout your time as an artist you may have noticed a few “super fans” out there who are always liking and reposting your content. Make a list of those people, develop relationships with them and put together a Swipe File AKA a list of pre-written Facebook and Twitter posts with graphics to promote your release. Then send the file to your super fans to make it easier for them to support and promote your music.

If you follow these steps, you’ll have no problem getting your fans and new fans to believe in you. Till next time!